Spiffy:

Iffy:

We've only seen a smidgen of the game; finicky camera controls.

When we first got our hands on Afro Samurai at Comic-Con, we were caught off-guard. What we originally thought was a presentation of a new animated series was actually the game engine. Afro Samurai's gorgeous art style uses cel shading and crisp, dark brushstrokes to give the game the look and feel of a manga series, with fluid movement and action that could only be provided by a big-budget animation studio. It's really a beautiful look that's been achieved here. That the game also features bloody samurai combat, a killer sense of humor, a soundtrack by The RZA, and the voice of Samuel L. Jackson... well, that's all just icing on the cake.

The Man Behind the Hair

While we aren't intimately familiar with the "Afro Samurai" franchise, the game demo did a good job of introducing the main characters. Afro is a silent warrior in Feudal Japan, and yes, he has an afro. (Since Afro is also his name, are we to assume that the name for the hairstyle is eponymous, and that we refer to this character even today?) His mentor is an older ninja named, fittingly, Ninja Ninja, and he's a wise-cracking, foul-mouthed guide for Afro on his journey. He also serves as the narrator for our tale.

Afro Samurai's greatest draw, besides its artwork, is the bloody yet satisfying combat system. The face buttons are mapped to a horizontal light attack, a stronger vertical strike, a kick, and Afro's jump. You have the typical sort of combos you would expect from an action game, with three lights followed by three strong attacks and so on, except that at the end of these chains, you're encouraged to hold down one of the attack buttons. These charged attacks result in stylish killing blows that go through longer animation routines, like a spinning strike that sends Afro flying through the air to land into a powerful attack stance, his enemy cleanly sliced through the middle.

The combat is intense and deadly, with bits and chunks of enemies frequently being sliced off, and the body parts littering the floor in a pool of crimson carnage. To simulate Afro's superior swordsmanship, you can activate a focus mode that slows down the action around him, while Afro remains able to move at full speed. The screen shifts smoothly to black and white during these sequences. You have to be careful, as getting hit in this focus mode will knock you back to real time.

In our brief Comic-Con demo, we were able to engage in combat with dozens of enemies, many of which seemed more than willing to fall upon our blade, while other wilier opponents were better at avoiding our attacks and taking advantage of any opening we left. All the staples of a great Japanese action movie were there, including ninjas racing across rooftops and plenty of grisly dismemberments. Best of all, the killing blows weren't canned animations, since we were able to slice people up in all sorts of ways, from a bit off the scalp to clean through the middle.

We only had one major issue with the combat system, and that was the camera. It was sometimes difficult to find a good way to maneuver the action on-screen, particularly because the character is so good at dashing all over the place, even in cramped environments. It's the sort of issue that plagues many action games, and here it's no different.

While we didn't get to see much more of Afro Samurai than what was in the brief single-stage demo, we were quite impressed with what the game has in store. The art style needs to be seen to be believed. This one won't be suitable for kids, as it takes a very adult approach to the humorous commentary and voice acting, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. We'll try to get another look at Afro Samurai in the near future, so keep an eye out for more.